Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has directed all district collectors to carefully verify voter identity cards of applicants seeking social security pensions, following reports of manipulation in age details.

As per a letter issued by R. S. Gopalan, IAS, Commissioner-cum-Secretary of the Department of Social Security and Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (SSEPD), it was observed that many new applicants are producing recently issued voter ID cards with altered dates of birth to claim higher pensions.

The directive comes after the state government increased social security pensions for persons with 80% disability and those aged 80 years and above to ₹3,500 per month. Similarly, the minimum pension under both the National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) and the Madhu Babu Pension Yojana (MBPY) was enhanced to ₹1,000 per month.

The higher benefits have reportedly led to a surge in applications, some of which are suspected to be fraudulent. To curb misuse, collectors have been asked to insist on the previous voter ID cards of applicants to verify whether the age has been recently amended.